Trials and Tribulations
by Inebriated Caffeine Imbiber
Summary: In a different world set in a different time, Ruby Rose finds herself the leader of a budding counter terrorist group about to head in for their demonstration. However things don't go to plan and her team is made the laughing stock of the whole outfit. Will she rise up and take glory for her team and become the counter terrorist agent she wish she could be? Or will she fail?


"Team RWBY please enter the vetting area." A cool womanly voice came over the intercom, frightening the small group in their locker room.

Today was initiation day. The day they were going to be vetted in the International Terrorist Response Force. An elite fighting force designed perfectly around quick insertion and elimination of terrorist forces in any given situation.

The training was gruelling. They singled out every recruit and put them through their own personal hell. Many people broke down in tears, while other became dead to all emotions. All of these weeds were culled before the true stars would appear.

Everyone was on their own in the first year of training. Day in and day out you practised drills, both asleep and awake. You were timed to the millisecond how quickly it took for you to gear up and be ready for insertion. Any mistakes, any faults, and accidents and you were reprimanded harshly. It was a cruel philosophy but a worthy one, a mistake might cost the life of a hostage.

Every member of team RWBY had their own style and their own specifications. Each of them was randomly selected and combined. If the team failed, then all of them were expelled from the service.

Ruby stood up, her red and black 417 strapped to her chest, loaded and cocked. She felt her nerves tingling hard, her hands literally shaking. Today was the day they either flopped or they shot to the top. She wore a light combat vest with a ceramic plate insert, carrying three double pouches, a small rose patch on her front. On her side she holstered a dark red M45 MEUSOC, two additional magazines within easy reach of her waist. With trembling hands, she placed on her standard issue combat helmet, strapping it underneath her chin as her hands gripped the stock of her rifle.

Weiss stood up behind her. She had a somewhat lighter kit, opting out for a white Vector chambered in .45 calibre. Her vest was similar to Ruby's, the three double pouches sized for her Vector magazines. She opted out for a fibre chest plate to reduce weight but attempting to not compromise on protection, her snowflake patch on her front. On her hip was a stylised Glock 24, two magazines in reserve. On her forearm was a small tablet used for communication and intelligence gathering. She wore the same helmet as Ruby.

Blake was next. Her main weapon was a Desert Tech SRS chambered in .300 Winchester magnum, modified into a semi-automatic configuration. the firearm painted a sleek black with the trigger, cocking handle and barrel painted a dull purple. Her vest a bit heavier, covering the shoulders and parts of the forearms, a steel plate inserted into the vest. On her waist was a Beretta 90-two with the same configuration as the other two. She dons an Enhanced Combat Helmet.

Yang stood up last. Suffice to say she was the heaviest kit out of all of them, wearing a Modular Tactical Vest with hardened steel inserts on both front and back. Her thighs and upper arms featured soft compressed fibre guards while her shins where left bare. Her main weapon of choice for today was a yellow and red MTs55 chambered in 12 gauge. Her side arm was the unwieldy AF2011, the slide painted yellow and the grips red. She wore a heavy helmet with a full clear face shield.

"Team RWBY, line up and prepare for insertion, final call." The voice came again.

The team reacted by checking and double checking their weaponry and adjusting their uniforms and vests for a more comfortable fit. A red light came on as they finished their adjustments.

Tensions where running high, adrenaline was pumping through their veins. Their first trial by fire. They just hoped they wouldn't get burnt.

The light turned green and the door opened suddenly, flooding them with harsh bright light. Ruby immediately charged forward and took a left, Weiss took her right, Blake her right and Yang followed.

They quickly regrouped and surged forward to an entrance. But their training gave in to their adrenaline and Yang ran ahead, immediately peppered with bullets and red covering her body, dropping to the floor.

The group tried to pull it in together but a sniper located in the building on the other side of the entrance shot Blake in the neck, her body sliding against the wall.

"Weiss, move!" Ruby squealed as they attempted to breach the entrance with just the two. But they ran past a door without realising it and a terrorist came out of the room and surgically put two rounds each into their backs.

The pair dropped to their knees and fell to the floor, blood staining their back.

"Team RWBY eliminated. All participants discharge and head to their index points." The same voice from before echoed across the field.

One by one, team RWBY got up and regrouped, each of them smarting from the harsh pelting they were dealt. The bullets were high velocity hardened paint projectiles. They mimicked the ballistics of a real bullet but without the lethality.

They trudged back to their rooms and waited for the other teams to complete their trials.

"Team JNPR, prepare yourself and get ready for insertion."

The leader of JNPR, Jaune, was a large man. He wore heavier armour than Yang, and his shield was a behemoth of metal and ceramic plating. His trusty side arm was a Mateba Unica chambered in .454 Casull and outfitted with a 9-inch barrel feeding from a six round cylinder.

Nora stood up behind him, all bright and smiles as she hefted her bright pink M32 grenade launcher while sporting a mean sledge hammer on her back. She wore a heavy grenadiers vest with multiple grenades in their slots. A small ammunition bag is on her left hip for extra grenades. For a sidearm she chose a shotgun whose stock and barrel was cut very short, basically leaving no extra weight behind as the cocking handle reach nearly ended at the barrel during a full stroke.

Pyrrha was right behind her, hefting a SR25 painted a mixture of golds and reds with a small combat optic mounted on the rail, with an option x3 magnifier hanging off the side. On her hip was a PP-2000 for personal protection and high firepower in a small package. She opted for a small combat vest with a small tablet on her left forearm similar to Weiss'. She wore a standard issue combat helmet.

Ren was the one to stand up. He was by far the lightest equipped, wearing a soft body armour vest and carrying a small radio unit in his helmet. His weapon of choice was a P90 sporting a 16-inch rifled barrel with a small red dot mounted on the top rail. His side arm was a Five-seven pistol for the ammunition interchangeability. On the other side of his hip was a small recon drone that would be controlled by a data pad housed in a small pull away unit in his vest.

The team lined up to the door, checking their gear until the buzzer sounded again. Three seconds later the light turned green and the door dropped forward. Immediately, Jaune bought up his shield and revolver and began to move at a steady jog, the earth shaking in his wake.

Nora was close behind him, six grenades already loaded in her launcher as she put it to her shoulder and firing a projectile through an occupied window. Several yells of pain proved her intuition to be right.

Pyrrha was right behind her, putting her eye into the optic and scanning the rooftops before surgically putting rounds into a group that was situated on a roof top on the far side of the compound.

Ren threw up his small drone and used it to fly across the levels of the compound, pointing out groups to Pyrrha for her to eliminate. He had drawn his pistol and held up the rear as he excelled at the multitasking necessary for his roles.

The group had already lined up against the entrance of the compound with Jaune at the lead. The team had been mostly silent for the majority of the part and he wanted to keep it that way. Checking to ensure that everyone's gear was in order, he tapped Nora on the thigh to signal his movement before he swung the corner.

It was fortuitous that he did as his shield was pelted by simultaneous rifle fire, his arm vibrating with each impact. He cocked back the hammer of his revolver and held his shield tight. He knocked on the wall behind him, signalling Nora who came up behind him.

She flicked the spoon on a flashbang grenade and chucked it over Jaune, covering both of their eyes as it went off. The enemies in the area were blinded by the larger than normal white flash.

The pair broke off as Nora got nasty with 40mm shotgun shells, basically sending hundreds of small paintballs slamming into multiple enemies. Jaune got to work with his revolver, the loud report echoing amongst the walls of the compound as every target he shot at dropped from the painful projectile colliding into them.

Pyrrha came up from behind and stared a sniper down the scope, her rifle sending a cracking report as it sent a bullet square in to his head. Nodding with satisfaction she slung her rifle to her back and pulled out her second firearm, pulling out the stock and rushing towards one side of the entrance.

Ren bought up the rear, catching his drone and putting it on his leg and dispatching two enemies who attempted to ambush them.

The team consolidated on the outside of the door. Jaune reloaded his revolver while Nora did the same. Pyrrha kept scanning the roof tops.

They were to storm the building and find a hostage. They did not know which floor he was on and if he was alive or not.

Ren bought up a 3d map of the building they were about storm, taking note of places where he'd place a hostage and showed Jaune, who nodded and made a hand signal.

The team tensed before Jaune kicked the door in and took multiple shots into his shield. With practised efficiency he dispatched the shooters quickly before standing down to reload his revolver.

Meanwhile Nora took lead with her shortened shotgun, going carefully but quickly as they cleared the way to an intersection. Jaune and Pyrrha split off from Ren and Nora.

Jaune and Pyrrha quickly scaled the staircase at the end of the hallway and took multiple firefights head on. They worked well, Pyrrha using Jaune's shield for its purpose and only peeking behind to dispatch any who she could reach.

Ren and Nora were in a similar situation but were a lot more careful about it. Ren's lightning reflexes saved them on more than one occasion while Nora's heavy weaponry bridged the gap in their lack of firepower.

They quickly regrouped and finally found the hostage, the hostage taker quickly annihilated by Pyrrha's quick thinking. Jaune grabbed a helmet and a vest from his backpack and placed it on the hostage before grabbing his wrist and hauling him towards the exit.

The team gathered around Jaune while Nora held up the rear as they surged towards the exit, heading down the steps. They hadn't encountered any more resistance yet, but Jaune got hit in the shoulder as he exited the building, forcing him to let go of the hostage and collapsing to one knee.

The rules where that limb shots weren't fatal, and that body shots took more than one shot. But you had to forgo the use of the shot limb.

Clenching his teeth from the stinging pain he gestured towards Nora to take over the hostage while Pyrrha eliminated the shooter.

Meanwhile throughout this whole entire thing, none of them spoke a word as they all surged towards the evacuation point, marked by a different APC from before. The hostage was inserted, Ren filed in, then Nora and then Pyrrha before Jaune help up the rear and entered the vehicle himself and slammed the door shut.

Winter came over the intercom again. "Team JNPR has completed the course. All participants discharge and head to index points."

Meanwhile, Team RWBY were watching with fervour as JNPR disembarked and headed towards debrief. As Ruby watched the team come around the corner, she could hear Jaune before seeing him.

He hulked down the hallway, shield still strapped to his arm. As he passed her, he gave her a look. Those cold blue eyes, calculating, confident. That made her stomach drop as she realised that this was her competition, and she felt her veins pump ice through them.

The rest of the teams, CRDL, RWBY, JNPR, BRNZ all stood in front of a raised dais that featured a podium, a small microphone jutting out towards Winter's lips.

It was simple to see how well the performances went. There were teams like CRDL and RWBY that were covered head to toe in red paint, while BRNZ had less paint on their team. JNPR were the only ones without a casualty, only an injury.

"I have to say trainees, that today was full of surprises. Some teams certainly did better than others." She casted a glance towards JNPR, then back towards RWBY. "And I have to say that there are some that need to pick up their slack or… Rethink their leadership." She looked back towards RWBY again.

"But there is one team I would like to acknowledge, and that is Team JNPR. Please step forward." They did as she asked.

"This team is the one you should be looking up to. During their trial I did not hear a peep from them, they worked like a machine, they knew each other's limitations and Jaune didn't have to issue orders, if any. They've passed the score with an outstanding zero fatalities and one injury."

The team stood tall during this acknowledgement, each of their hearts swelling with pride. Envious eyes bored into their backs as the assembly was disbanded.

Soon afterwards, Ruby found herself staring into a mirror in the locker room. She looked like hell, her hair matted to her forehead due to the sweat. Large black rings under her eyes truly showed her exhaustion with the addition she felt like she was running a fever.

A familiar thudding could be heard that drew her attention. Curiosity got the best of her and she stared down the hallway to see the sight of Jaune striding with a purpose down towards her. Her heart jumped into her throat as she stared at this menacing figure striding towards her.

As he crossed the doorway, she swore she could feel those cold piercing blue eyes bore into her silver ones. Suddenly, she felt a sudden gripping of envy. "I hate you." She hissed through her teeth.

That caused him to stop, and nearly made Ruby bolt back into a closet when he turned around. "Excuse me?" A deep voice shocked her, he was silent for the whole demonstration, but the timbre of the voice shook her to her core.

"I-I hate you!" She said, a bit more indignantly this time.

He stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes darting between her own. "Why?" 

"W-what?" 

"Why do you hate me?"

She couldn't come up with a reason, biting her lip in embarrassment. He stepped closer until he was right in front of her, she felt like she could feel his heart beat. "You hate me, because you envy me." He said with a voice that understood.

She nodded slightly. "You made me look bad…"

"You made yourself look bad. I will critique your performance. Firstly, you did not think even a moment during that trial, you didn't stop to consolidate your team mates when Yang went down, you just kept running in the hopes that you wouldn't be hit."

"Secondly, you didn't play to your teams' strengths. You had a designated marksman, Blake, who could've sniped your targets before you moved forward. You let your fear and adrenaline get the better of you. The most important task firstly when you dismount is to find cover, consolidate, revaluate and give your team members tasks that work with their skill sets."

"Weiss would work well in a CQB situation, her weapon is rapid fire and very compact, she should've been your second breacher. Yang should be your first as she has a revolving shotgun, she can load one breaching shell and the rest regular buckshot or slugs, whatever she preferred. Blake would be in your rear, to cover your advance from enemies who were laying in hiding. You would've been behind Weiss, but in front of Blake. You are the leader of the group and you are the one with the plan.

"But you were nearly always in the front." Ruby pointed out.

He nodded. "But I have the armour and shield necessary to take point, and plus notice how I barely said a word. My team is drilled to anticipate my moves, they know me well enough to know how I work. That is teamwork."

Ruby nodded bashfully, sighing. "We're going to fail." Her lip quivered in fear and pent up anger.

He looked at her before sighing and rolling his neck. "That is why I'm going to work you like hell."

"Why? Why would you even bother trying to help a rival group?" Ruby asked, stumped by his offer.

"This is more than just a competition. We are a new breed of counter terrorists that will provide peace in the world. It is our duty to ensure that there are as many people who can help as possible. And if that means I have to take a mentoring roll to teach you, then I will. So I ask of you, Ruby Rose… Do you except my offer? Do you accept to train like you've never trained before? Do you accept to lay down your differences with your team mates and become the team you dream you can be?"

It was almost too good to be true. To be trained by a superior team to get better. She'd be crazy not to take it. She took a deep breath and raised her gaze to his. "Yes."


End file.
